Optiplex 210L

Dell Optiplex 210Lkeeps turing off and when I try to turn it back on won't start, amber light flashing.tryed removing the power cord. push the power butten for about 20 seconds with power cord out. put the cord back turn it on worked fine for about an hour or so and it turned it self off again..it about six years old and being used as pos system in the store. no hardware or software has been changed since it was instaled.

My Optiplex 520 started behaving in the same way. One good thing about Dells is that they are dead easy to get inside to check and replace stuff. On mine there were two bulging and blackened capacitors clearly visible. The power supply on such desktops is also pretty minimal.

Dell spares are relatively cheap and easy to find. The thermal paste on the cpu cooler may need renewing causing the computer to overheat and shut down.. If no one has been inside it for six years the computer is likely to be in need of a good blow out with an air can.